update to reflect new database names, remove explicit language

[unix-history] / usr / src / games / fortune / Notes

diff --git a/usr/src/games/fortune/Notes b/usr/src/games/fortune/Notes
index b9e99b3..ca2a1cc 100644 (file)
--- a/usr/src/games/fortune/Notes
+++ b/usr/src/games/fortune/Notes
@@ -1,16 +1,19 @@
-Warning:       The fortunes contained in the fortune database have
-               been collected haphazardly from a caphony of sources,
-               in number so huge it boggles the mind.  It is
-               impossible to do any meaningful quality control on
-               attributions, or lack thereof, or exactness of the
-               quote.  Since this database is not used for profit, and
-               since entire works are not published, it falls under
-               fair use, as we understand it.  However, if any
-               half-assed idiot decides to make a profit off of this,
-               they will need to double check it all, and nobody not
-               involved of such an effort makes any warranty that
-               anything in here bears any relation to the real world
-               of literature, law, or other bizzarrity.
+Warning:
+       The fortunes contained in the fortune database have been collected
+       haphazardly from a cacophony of sources, in number so huge it
+       boggles the mind.  It is impossible to do any meaningful quality
+       control on attributions, or lack thereof, or exactness of the quote.
+       Since this database is not used for profit, and since entire works
+       are not published, it falls under fair use, as we understand it.
+       However, if any half-assed idiot decides to make a profit off of
+       this, they will need to double check it all, and nobody not involved
+       of such an effort makes any warranty that anything in the database
+       bears any relation to the real world of literature, law, or other
+       bizzarrity.
+
+This file describes the format for fortunes in the database.  This is done
+in detail to make it easier to keep track of things.  Any rule given here
+may be broken to make a better joke.

 
 [All examples are indented by one tab stop -- KCRCA]
 
 
 [All examples are indented by one tab stop -- KCRCA]
 


@@ -22,7 +25,7 @@ Numbers should be given in parentheses, e.g.,
 
 Attributions are two tab stops, followed by two hyphens, followed by a
 space, followed by the attribution, and are *not* preceded by blank
 
 Attributions are two tab stops, followed by two hyphens, followed by a
 space, followed by the attribution, and are *not* preceded by blank

-lines.  Book, journal, movie, and all other titles are in quotes, .e.g,
+lines.  Book, journal, movie, and all other titles are in quotes, e.g.,

 
        $100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at
        which time it will be worth absolutely nothing.
 
        $100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at
        which time it will be worth absolutely nothing.


@@ -34,20 +37,19 @@ on a line which lines up below the first text of the attribution, e.g.,
                        -- A very long attribution which might not fit on one
                           line, "Ken Arnold's Stupid Sayings"
 
                        -- A very long attribution which might not fit on one
                           line, "Ken Arnold's Stupid Sayings"
 

-Single paragraph fortunes are in left justified (non-indented)
-paragraphs unless they fall into another category listed below (see
-examle above).  Longer fortunes should also be in left justified
-paragraphs, but if this makes it too long, try indented paragraphs,
-with indentations of either one tab stop or 5 chars.  Indentations of
-less than 5 are too hard to read.
+Single paragraph fortunes are in left justified (non-indented) paragraphs
+unless they fall into another category listed below (see example above).
+Longer fortunes should also be in left justified paragraphs, but if this
+makes it too long, try indented paragraphs, with indentations of either one
+tab stop or 5 chars.  Indentations of less than 5 are too hard to read.

 
 

-Laws have the title left justified and capitalized, followed by a
-colon, with all the text of the law itself indented one tab stop,
-initially capitalized, e.g.,
+Laws have the title left justified and capitalized, followed by a colon,
+with all the text of the law itself indented one tab stop, initially
+capitalized, e.g.,

 
        A Law of Computer Programming:
 
        A Law of Computer Programming:

-               Make it possible for programmers to write in English and you
-               will find the programmers cannot write in English.
+               Make it possible for programmers to write in English and
+               you will find the programmers cannot write in English.

 
 Limericks are indented as follows, all lines capitalized:
 
 
 Limericks are indented as follows, all lines capitalized:
 


@@ -57,63 +59,62 @@ Limericks are indented as follows, all lines capitalized:
                No more than debris,
        If the input was short of exact.
 
                No more than debris,
        If the input was short of exact.
 

-Accents precede the letter they are over, e.g., "`^He" for e with a
-grave accent.  Underlining is done on a word-by-word basis, with the
-underlines preceding the word, e.g., "__^H^Hhi ____^H^H^H^Hthere".
+Accents precede the letter they are over, e.g., "`^He" for e with a grave
+accent.  Underlining is done on a word-by-word basis, with the underlines
+preceding the word, e.g., "__^H^Hhi ____^H^H^H^Hthere".

 
 

-No fortune should run beyond 72 characters on a single line without
-good justification (er, no pun intended).  And no right margin
-justification, either.  Sorry.
+No fortune should run beyond 72 characters on a single line without good
+justification (er, no pun intended).  And no right margin justification,
+either.  Sorry.  For BSD people, there is a program called "fmt" which can
+make this kind of formatting easier.

 
 

-Definitions are given with the word or phrase left justified, followed
-by the part of speech (if appropriate) and a colon.  The definition
-starts indented by one tab stop, with subsequent lines left justified,
-e.g.,
+Definitions are given with the word or phrase left justified, followed by
+the part of speech (if appropriate) and a colon.  The definition starts
+indented by one tab stop, with subsequent lines left justified, e.g.,

 
        Afternoon, n.:
 
        Afternoon, n.:

-               That part of the day we spend worrying about how we wasted the
-       morning.
+               That part of the day we spend worrying about how we wasted
+       the morning.

 
 

-Quotes are sometimes put around statements which are funnier or make
-more sense if they are understood as being spoken, rather than written,
-communication, e.g,
+Quotes are sometimes put around statements which are funnier or make more
+sense if they are understood as being spoken, rather than written,
+communication, e.g.,

 
 

-       "All my friends and I are crazy.  That's the only thing that keeps us
-       sane."
+       "All my friends and I are crazy.  That's the only thing that
+       keeps us sane."

 
 

-Elipses are always surrounded by spaces, except when next to
-puncuation, and are three dots, unless there is a good reason not to.
-(In fact, all these rules can be broken if they make a good joke.)
+Ellipses are always surrounded by spaces, except when next to punctuation,
+and are three dots long.

 
        "... all the modern inconveniences ..."
                        -- Mark Twain
 
 
        "... all the modern inconveniences ..."
                        -- Mark Twain
 

-Human initials always have spaces after the periods, e.g, "P. T.
-Barnum", not "P.T. Barnum".  However, "P.T.A.", not "P. T. A.".
+Human initials always have spaces after the periods, e.g, "P. T.  Barnum",
+not "P.T. Barnum".  However, "P.T.A.", not "P. T. A.".

 
 

-All fortunes should be attributed, but if and only if they are original
-with somebody.  Many people have said things that are folk sayings
-(i.e., are common among the folk (i.e., us common slobs)).  There is
-nothing wrong with this, of course, but such statements should not be
-attributed to individuals who did not invent them.
+All fortunes should be attributed, but if and only if they are original with
+somebody.  Many people have said things that are folk sayings (i.e., are
+common among the folk (i.e., us common slobs)).  There is nothing wrong with
+this, of course, but such statements should not be attributed to individuals
+who did not invent them.

 
 

-Horoscopes should have the sign indented by one tab stop, followed by
-the dates of the sign, with the text left justified below it, e.g.,
+Horoscopes should have the sign indented by one tab stop, followed by the
+dates of the sign, with the text left justified below it, e.g.,

 
                AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18)
 
                AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18)

-       You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive.  You lie
-       a great deal.  On the other hand, you are inclined to be careless and
-       impractical, causing you to make the same mistakes over and over
-       again.  People think you are stupid.
+       You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive.  You
+       lie a great deal.  On the other hand, you are inclined to be
+       careless and impractical, causing you to make the same mistakes over
+       and over again.  People think you are stupid.

 
 

-Single quotes should not be used except as quotes within quotes.  Not
-even single quotes masquerading as double quotes are to be used, e.g.,
-don't say ``hi there'' or `hi there' or 'hi there', but "hi there".
-However, you *can* say "I said, `hi there'".
+Single quotes should not be used except as quotes within quotes.  Not even
+single quotes masquerading as double quotes are to be used, e.g., don't say
+``hi there'' or `hi there' or 'hi there', but "hi there".  However, you
+*can* say "I said, `hi there'".

 
 

-A long poem or song can be ordered as follows in order to make it
-fit on a screen (fortunes should be 19 lines or less if at all
-possible):
+A long poem or song can be ordered as follows in order to make it fit on a
+screen (fortunes should be 19 lines or less if at all possible) (numbers
+here are stanza numbers):

 
        11111111111111111111
        11111111111111111111
 
        11111111111111111111
        11111111111111111111


@@ -127,14 +128,28 @@ possible):
                                                44444444444444444444
                                                44444444444444444444
 
                                                44444444444444444444
                                                44444444444444444444
 

-Fortunes are split into potentially offensive and not potentially
-offensive, into the files "obscene" and "scene", respectively.
-Anything which would not make it onto network prime time programming
-should *not* go into "scene".  Also, anything which would only get on
-if some discredited kind of guy said it should *not* go in scene.
-Fortunes containing "shit", "fuck", "cock" (not the male version of a
-chicken, obviously, but "penis"), "cunt", "pussy", and such like are
-*obscene*.  Political opinions are supposed to be in "obscene", too.
-Antyhing which is blatantly racist, mysoginist, or homophobic, should
-not be in either, since they are not really funny unless *you* are
-racist, mysoginist, or homophobic.
+Fortunes are split into potentially offensive and not potentially offensive.
+The offensive version of a file has the same name as the non-offensive
+version with "-o" concatenated, i.e. "fort" is the standard fortune
+database, and "fort-o" is the standard offensive database.  Anything which
+would not make it onto network prime time programming (or which would only
+be broadcast if some discredited kind of guy said it) MUST be in the
+potentially offensive database.  Fortunes containing any explicit language
+(see George Carlin's recent updated list) MUST be in the potentially
+offensive database.  Political and religious opinions are often sequestered
+in the potentially offensive section as well.  Anything which assumes as a
+world view blatantly racist, mysogynist (sexist), or homophobic ideas should
+not be in either, since they are not really funny unless *you* are racist,
+mysogynist, or homophobic.
+
+The point of this is that people have should have a reasonable expectation
+that, should they just run "fortune", they will not be offended.  We know
+that some people take offense at anything, but normal people do have
+opinions, too, and have a right not to have their sensibilities offended by
+a program which is supposed to be entertaining.  People who run "fortune
+-o" or "fortune -a" are saying, in effect, that they are willing to have
+their sensibilities tweaked.  However, they should not have their personal
+worth seriously (i.e., not in jest) assaulted.  Jokes which depend for their
+humor on racist, mysogynist, or homophobic stereotypes *do* seriously
+assault individual personal worth, and in an general entertainment medium
+we should be able to get by without it.